Players who regularly play gaming machines quickly tire of particular games and therefore it is necessary for manufacturers of these machines to develop innovative game features which add interest and variety to the games.
In response to this need, suppliers of gaming devices and systems have attempted to provide the sought after variety, while still developing games that comply with the relevant regulations in the jurisdiction of the gaming venue operator. Suppliers of gaming devices therefore are faced with restrictions on the types of games and gaming apparatus that are allowable, both in terms of the prevailing regulations and in terms of providing a return on investment to the gaming venue operators.
In addition, it is important that a player be able to understand the operation of a game quickly so that the player promptly feels that they are in control of game play and can therefore extract maximum entertainment from the game.
The wheel is a very popular game feature in gaming machines. Much of the appeal of wheel-type game features lies in the fact that that wheel-type games tend to be intuitive to players and visually appealing.
In order to increase, and maintain players' interest in wheel-type game features it is also desirable to offer a wide range of bonuses in a game, including a number of large bonuses. However, achieving this outcome may be complicated by a requirement in some markets (e.g. Australia) that the odds for wheel-type features (and other typical casino devices) in gaming machines must display the expected odds of that device. Thus achieving both of these desirable outcomes may lead to overly complicated game layouts which are undesirable and may diminish the intuitive nature and visual appeal of wheel-type game features.
In addition, the geometry of a wheel or any other multi-prize or outcome indicator such as a die only allows for the clear display of a limited or fixed number of prize outcomes.